Cinemath: Year-End Report on the 2013 Box Office

I love diving deeper into box office numberswhenever Iget the chance. Ideally, the market would let me wait until March or so, when the final tallies for the holiday fare are locked in. But the window for year-end coverage is nearly shut, so today I present a report on the 2013 box office for Cinemath.

We look at the domestic and worldwide grosses of 143 wide releases with a few questions in mind: How dominant are sequels and remakes at the top of the charts? Which movies had greater appeal overseas? Which releases had “legs,” and kept audiences coming back week after week? After the jump, I break down the past year in box office by total gross, international earning, staying power, studio, release date, and MPAA rating. From About Time($15.3 million) to World War Z($202.4 million):

This article focuses on the 143 wide releases that played in at least 600 North American theaters at some point during their run. The data [via Box Office Mojo and The Numbers] is updated through 12/29, the final weekend of 2013. This unfortunately cuts off several releases in the middle of their runs. Throughout the article, a (*) denotes movies that were still in theaters as of 12/29. A (^) highlights December releases that still have significant earning potential in 2014. All grosses are in millions of dollars unless otherwise noted.

Domestic Grosses

The chart below plots domestic gross of all 143 wide releases. (Note: Javascript must be enabled to view these Google charts. Hover over a data point to see the title and domestic gross.)

As of 12/29, 31 movies grossed at least $100 million domestic.

Rank

Title

Domestic

Studio

1

Iron Man 3

$409.0

Disney

2

The Hunger Games 2*

$391.1

Lionsgate

3

Despicable Me 2*

$367.7

Universal

4

Man of Steel

$291.0

Warner Bros.

5

Monsters University

$268.5

Disney

6

Gravity*

$254.6

Warner Bros.

7

Frozen*

$248.4

Disney

8

Fast and Furious 6

$238.7

Universal

9

Oz The Great and Powerful

$234.9

Disney

10

Star Trek Into Darkness

$228.8

Paramount

11

Thor: The Dark World*

$202.4

Disney

12

World War Z

$202.4

Paramount

13

The Hobbit 2*^

$190.3

Warner Bros.

14

The Croods

$187.2

Fox

15

The Heat

$159.6

Fox

16

We’re the Millers

$150.4

Warner Bros.

17

The Great Gatsby

$144.8

Warner Bros.

18

The Conjuring

$137.4

Warner Bros.

19

Identity Thief

$134.5

Universal

20

Grown Ups 2

$133.7

Sony

21

The Wolverine

$132.6

Fox

22

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

$122.5

Paramount

23

Now You See Me

$117.7

Lionsgate

24

Cloudy w/ Chance of Meatballs 2*

$116.6

Sony

25

Lee Daniels’ The Butler*

$116.1

Weinstein Co.

26

The Hangover 3

$112.2

Warner Bros.

27

Epic

$107.5

Fox

28

Captain Phillips*

$104.3

Sony

29

Pacific Rim

$101.8

Warner Bros.

30

This Is the End

$101.5

Sony

31

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa*

$101.3

Paramount

Anchorman 2 should be able to make the list in January. American Hustle, Saving Mr. Banks, The Wolf of Wall Street, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty all have a shot. I also expect The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug to bump Star Trek Into Darkness out of the Top 10 soon.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire could challenge Iron Man 3 for the top spot. Either way, a sequel has taken number one on the domestic charts in each of the last 4 years, and 10 of the last 11.By my count, 38 (26%) of the 2013 wide releases are sequels or remakes/reboots of properties previously seen on film. The average domestic gross of a sequel/remake is $122 million compared to $49 million for original fare. The difference is even more pronounced abroad: The average worldwide gross of a sequel/remake is $308, more than times greater than the $102 million for originals. (Given the emphasis on blockbuster sequels in the summer and original awards contenders over the holidays, this effect may balance out somewhat by February. )

The chart below shows the distribution of sequels/remakes vs original properties in each quintile in the top 100 on the domestic charts. For instance, the first bar group shows how many original movies and how many sequels/remakes are in the top 20. The next four bar groups do the same for 21-40, 41-60, 61-80, and 81-100, respectively.

The majority of wide releases are still original properties. However, the sequels/remakes dominate the top of the charts, taking 12 of the top 20 spots and 20 of the top 40.

Worldwide Grosses

The chart below plots worldwide gross of all 143 wide releases.

As of 12/29, 23 movies grossed at least $300 million worldwide.

Rank

Title

Worldwide

Domestic

International

1

Iron Man 3

$1215.4

$409.0

$806.4

2

Despicable Me 2*

$918.7

$367.7

$551.0

3

The Hunger Games 2*

$795.1

$391.1

$404.0

4

Fast and Furious 6

$788.7

$238.7

$550.0

5

Monsters University

$743.6

$268.5

$475.1

6

Man of Steel

$662.8

$291.0

$371.8

7

Gravity*

$653.3

$254.6

$398.7

8

Thor: The Dark World*

$629.4

$202.4

$427.0

9

The Hobbit 2*^

$614.1

$190.3

$423.8

10

The Croods

$587.2

$187.2

$400.0

11

World War Z

$540.0

$202.4

$337.6

12

Oz The Great and Powerful

$493.3

$234.9

$258.4

13

Frozen*

$491.9

$248.4

$243.5

14

Star Trek Into Darkness

$467.4

$228.8

$238.6

15

The Wolverine

$414.9

$132.6

$282.3

16

Pacific Rim

$407.6

$101.8

$305.8

17

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

$375.7

$122.5

$253.2

18

Now You See Me

$351.7

$117.7

$234.0

19

The Hangover 3

$351.0

$112.2

$238.8

20

The Great Gatsby

$348.8

$144.8

$204.0

21

The Smurfs 2

$347.5

$71.0

$276.5

22

The Conjuring

$316.7

$137.4

$179.3

23

A Good Day to Die Hard

$304.6

$67.3

$237.3

The wide releases grossed nearly $10 billion domestically and well over $12.5 billion abroad. That’s about a 45% domestic/55% international split, but 13 movies grossed over 70% of the worldwide total overseas.

Rank

Title

%Int

International

Domestic

1

The Grandmaster

89.7%

$57.5

$6.6

2

About Time

80.9%

$64.9

$15.3

3

Escape Plan*

79.7%

$98.2

$25.0

4

The Smurfs 2

79.6%

$276.5

$71.0

5

A Good Day to Die Hard

77.9%

$237.3

$67.3

6

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

75.3%

$170.0

$55.7

7

After Earth

75.2%

$183.3

$60.5

8

The Last Stand

75.1%

$36.3

$12.1

9

Pacific Rim

75.0%

$305.8

$101.8

10

The Counselor*

73.4%

$46.8

$16.9

11

Turbo

70.6%

$199.5

$83.0

12

Movie 43

70.5%

$21.1

$8.8

13

Rush

70.1%

$63.3

$26.9

The Hong Kong production The Grandmaster makes sense at the top of the list—the martial arts drama grossed over 70% of its total in China alone. The UK production About Time also fits the bill.

There are quite a few action movies that arguably disappointed in the States, but likely saved the bottom line overseas. Escape Plan, A Good Day to Die Hard, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, After Earth, Pacific Rim.

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